This is a great idea! I am just curious about how they are going to regulate this. It is possible to control something this massive? A lot of people will be unhappy about this. So there will be plenty of rebellions. But why not up the prices of such products first? Why ban smoking cold turkey?

Oh okay. This sounds slightly pausible. If this works then many other big cities and do the same. Then 50 years down the line we will make a smoke free America. But would that be possible since tobacco was the leading cash crop that jump started America.

New York City follows in the footsteps of 105 municipalities (in states
including California, Hawaii, Massachusetts and New Jersey) that have banned
smoking on public beaches, according to data from the advocacy group Americans
for Nonsmokers' Rights. Major cities include Los Angeles, Minneapolis and
Seattle.

A group of 12 jurors and five alternates was finally seated following 11 days
spent sifting through candidates in Pinellas County, Fla. It was no simple task
finding people who hadn’t formed opinions about the highly publicized defendant.

If this case was on the down low they wouldn't have a problem getting jurors in the first place. But why was a witness in the pool of juriors? And how exactly did this witness poison the pool of jurors.

And let me guess, since the defendent hasn't refused a gallery and since the defendent isn't a minor they can't close it. Again I believe that a sense of privacy is being overlooked. In the many cases I read about a similar situations they haven't had massive juror issues.

I know that it is a right to get a lawyer. However it would be a waste on money, energy and time if she actually killed her son. That money, energy and time could be used to get some innocent out of jail.

If she was really suicidal then depending on how serious her symptoms were, there would be a chance that wouldn't have custody of her child. And where exactly is her husband? If she was suicidal one of her loved ones would be concern with the safety of the kid.

Already the target of a federal lawsuit, a controversial Arizona law that
essentially bans ethnic studies in public schools has pitted the largest school
district in Tucson against students, parents, and other program supporters.

raucous four-hour meeting punctuated by the removal of several people from the
boardroom and loud protests from the crowd, the board postponed taking action
until after it convenes a public forum on the matter.

Honestly people need to be open minded. Take books for example, every year school's have to ban books from their courses. To Kill a Mockingbird has been threatened many times and it has also been banned from several schools too.

raucous four-hour meeting punctuated by the removal of several people from the
boardroom and loud protests from the crowd, the board postponed taking action
until after it convenes a public forum on the matter.

bans ethnic studies that promote the overthrow of the United States government
and resentment toward a race or class of people. Also outlawed are classes
designed primarily for students of a particular ethnic group and those that
advocate ethnic solidarity rather than the treatment of students as individuals.

bans ethnic studies that promote the overthrow of the United States government
and resentment toward a race or class of people. Also outlawed are classes
designed primarily for students of a particular ethnic group

I don't understand why people want to ban ethnic studies so badly. If anything I think it gives good insight into what others many be ignore. Anthropologists study religion and ethnic groups and man kind, so should that career be ban too?

Talking about being selective, this is a generalization. I am pretty sure that a good amount of students did take additional courses. These guys need a better teacher that can challenge them into learning like in the movie Stand and Deliver.

Dozens of police, some in riot gear, surrounded the building where the meeting (which included an overflow crowd) took place. A police helicopter even hovered above. Before the start of another meeting last week, when the matter was originally supposed to be taken up, youths had chained themselves to board members’ chairs. That session was canceled.

2nd teen in weeks survives
Golden Gate Bridge jump

Although this article may not have direct connection with everything that we have done in class so far. I think it is important to address that if a person pushes other person off this bridge it would be called murder and there would be severe consequences (time in jail, fines...), however what is the punishment for taking your on life? Would it be constitutional to declare a law that forbids sucide or something along those lines.

I am pretty sure that the San Francisco bridge has a net under it because it has a high risk for sucide. The net was suppose to break one's fall, so the fall wouldn't be as fatal. So couldn't they be sucided for having a uneffective net. It may sound stupid, but if in today's world a someone has to take responisbility then who would be responisble for this?

SImply put there must be something wrong, if there are so many people willing to end their lives. Where does law fall in here? Or do they just declared them mental unstable and send them off to a pysch ward. 677 people were deterred for trying to harm themselves so what makes them stop from trying to committ sucide again. Afterall, punishments are given to criminals in hopes that they will turn around when they return back into society. I know this is a touchy topic but something just doesn't seem right about the current system.

This case is strange. I think the father could have also been apart of this. Anyways everything doesn't line up. I wouldn't relate this case to the one in 1994 unless she a also a "good mother" pursuing a similar career.

Sounds like this argument was heated. I wish they could give us details. Someone should have told her about the smell the soup, cool the soup thing to help calm herself out of what seems to be a spontaneous decision.

It makes sense to move on this case to military commission because of the nature of the trial but would this be constitutional? And why in Cuba? how exactly will this work out. Whatever the outcome this case will end up in the books.

Sure we don't want terrorist in country but who will this work? Going back to the first highlight section why was this trial tried for civil court- why not federal court or this military commission thing instead.

As much as terriosts have kept the US on its toes, and although there might be a probability of harming national security, I don't think this is right. US should stand up against these terroist, instead of keeping them a yard away place them in those coffins- like they really care for their lives anyway.

We have witnessed the serious problems that arise when high-level terrorists are
tried in civilian courts -- including the dismissal of important evidence,
attacks on guards, intelligence leaks and enormous burdens on the surrounding

The 80-page indictment, which named the almost 3,000 people killed in the
attacks, charged Mohammed and four others with conceiving and helping execute
the plan to hijack airliners and crash them into U.S. buildings “causing maximum
casualties and destruction.”

The court's justices are set to decide by June whether lawyers representing
potentially more than a million women employed by Walmart can bring a
class-action sex-discrimination lawsuit against the retail giant.

Although there is power in numbers. I don't think this will be effective because each women's case would have to be looked at carefully. Going after Walmart will generate a lot more profits, than individual branches. Everyone involved in this case will have to be on the same page and I wouldn't be easy to pull off.

I thought people had the right to a speedy trial, 10 years is not speedy! Its something that this lawsuit started with 5 women and now it have millions. If Walmart appealed to let the case go, then what happened?

According to another source in my econ class, men were earning about a dollar fifty more than men. And promotions were those pat on the back kind. If corporations are considered individual entities then should Walmart get sued as a whole?

"There needs to be other evidence than a mathematical analysis of pay
scales." He said evidence, such as testimony from employees about a sexist
corporate culture or a policy of discrimination, would bolster the case.

What exactly was she doing in Nigeria and how was she arrested? Can U.S officials across international boarders to catch killers like Tata. I thought the Nigerian government would have to arrest her and give her to American officials. I don't know the process.

How does the U.S have the right to over step another countries border's to arrest people who have only done a crime in America? I wish they could explain this a little bit. What would happen if she was also wanted in Nigeria for some other crime?

And how exactly were bullet wounds found on the children. What would be her reason for leaving the children alone in her house, because shopping doesn't sound quite legit. I would never do that because I wouldn't want them messing up my stuff.

The entire definition of what bullying is has changed. At that time the bullies would call victims names, spread bad rumors about them hurting them socially, physical and mentally. Now it is just a mess. How are people suppose to track bullies on the web?

Exactly, now that people have gotten smart. So know the victim might not even know him/her. But how would they track this? I don't think it is possible to stop this because it deals with the internet. Once something goes on, it never comes down.

Shocking! Actually, I don't think bullying is the ultimate problem because it is everywhere even on WallStreet. Want people should preach is another way to get stronger or something. I think this is a lost hope because it is just not reasonable for everyone to sing kum bai ya around the fire.

Even if this helps a small percentage- what can this web site do if the bully is on the other side of the earth? Is this webs site just supose to make bullying an offical problem? How exactly will this work?

Idaho bill would take away power of teachers
union

Everyone should get the right to form a union. Now companies many set some ground rules or something, but the state should not be able to determine the right for teachers to form a union. In my economics class we were watch a movie in which a nurse and a guard decide to form unions to reach out to other nurses and guards about rising salaries.

I don't think of myself as a stong politcal minded person, but go republicans for opposing the bill. I don't think can make this call because unions was a huge thing ever since America was create. The people should take this to court.

Or are all these charges for the shooting. I would say a gun less world would be better, but then the weapon would just be something else. I wonder how Tata treated the kids and how the kids treated her prior to the shooting. How was there relationship.

All of them should serve a lifetime in jail for all the lives that could have been destoryed by their plans. It's like 1st degree murder on a bigger scale. What made them get off the hook? What where the lesser crimes?

Walter Reed Army Medical Center, Hasan, a psychiatrist, openly expressed his
beliefs that suicide bombings were justified, that U.S. military operations in
Iraq and Afghanistan were wars against Islam, that Muslim Americans in the U.S.
military might engage in fratricide against their comrades and that his loyalty
to his religion was greater than his sworn obligation as a military officer to
support and defend the Constitution

This is quite outrageous! Why didn't he get fired? And couldn't he completely lose his medical license, because psychiatrists aren't suppose to bias their patients because it will confuse them and cause conflicts.

Even so, because of his profession his patients could have even more damage because now they might be inflicted with the Islamist extremism ideas and their own. This will basically will elevate their traumatic experiences.

This might be too early for me to say this but, it seems like someone cannot take a joke! And what's up with the name "Jihad Jane". Is a nickname or a legal name? Is this American a male or female? (I would like to guess female because of the name Jane attached to the end.)

Nevermind, about the whole joke thing (in my first comment.) That's a little harsh- trust me with that. At the same time when Saddam Hussein's statues were toppled over, no one bother to kill the masses who participated in that. It shouldn't matter what other people think. The truth is not everybody will like you and they might be thinking about drawing your head on a dog's body too. On a side note, I was in Model United Nations last year- in this club we skipped school to attend Mock UN meetings. The presiding officer was completely rude and annoying, so the assembly would pass around really, really bad notes about him (including drawings of him similar to the dog's body thing.) Anyways, when he found out he ran out of the room literally crying. In both cases it is an overreaction.

she pleaded guilty to conspiracy to provide material support to terrorists,
conspiracy to kill in a foreign country, making false statements to government
officials relating to international terrorism, and attempted identity theft to
facilitate an act of international terrorism.

LaRose, who lived in Pennsburg, Pa., 35 miles north of Philadelphia,
called herself "Jihad Jane" and "Fatima LaRose" online.

She posted on YouTube
in June 2008 that she was desperate to do something to help the suffering Muslim
people. The message attracted contacts from people in Asia and Europe who
invited LaRose to travel to Europe and train with jihadists, according to court
documents.

Oh, so LaRose is Jane. It seems like she lost her original intentions "to help the suffering Muslim people." Because killing someone else doesn't do anything but hurt other people. For the record killing someone else doesn't boost (at least it shouldn't boost a mentality stable persons) confidence. She could have helped in so many other ways, it is a shame.

Roger Stockham, a 63-year-old California man, was arrested on explosives
charges last week after police allegedly found him with M-80s
in the trunk of his car in the parking lot of the Islamic Center of America, a
Dearborn, Michigan, mosque.

1) This is a Californian Man who traveled all the way to a mosque in Michigan; that doesn't make any sense. Why go that far with explosives? 3) How did this man get the M-8os explosives? 2) Was the mosque preaching extremist teachings?

mental instability or not, he could have caused a lot of damage." And, he added,
"if his name was Ali or Muhammed and he did a similar thing at a synogogue, he
would have been immediately labeled a domestic terrorist

He says Stockham had been heard by an employee of a Detroit bar making
anti-Muslim remarks, including "describing Muslims as the enemy." The employee
took down Stockham's license plate and alerted police. When they found him in
the mosque parking lot, police found a concealed knife on Stockham and a large
amount of fireworks, including M-80 exlposives, in the trunk of his car

Oh wow. And if the bar employee had not called the police 500 people would have been dead today. One little thing can go a long way. Again, I am completely puzzeled about the exlposives- How much was he carrying, How did he get them, Are they legal (because I don't think they are.)?

attempted assassination of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords and the attempted murder of
two of her aides. He is accused of opening fire on a Giffords political event in
a rampage that wounded 13 people and killed six others, including a federal
judge and a 9-year-old girl who was born on Sept. 11, 2001.

After what did this guy did, it seems unjust that he is getting some time inbetween his trials. By the way, the author who added the 9- year-old girl's date of birth is slightly strange. It seems like the author is putting in more sentiment in a stressful case. I think the author should stress the amount of people affected by the shooting instead. That by itself is mor effective than the birth date.